1970 Great Eight League

Game #14 Results:

Boston 3 Pittsburgh 5

WP- Orlando Pena (1-0) LP- Gary Peters (2-1)

HR-Al Oliver (2)

The Pirates got a huge win over the first place Red Sox, 5 to 3. The teams were tied three all after five innings, when Roberto Clemente hit a one-out triple in the sixth. Bob Robertson singled him in. Then Bucco relievers, Pena, Del Canton and Giusti tossed four innings of scoreless ball. Al Oliver added a solo homer in the bottom of the eighth as an insurance run.

Cincinnati 8 Oakland 6 Eleven innings

WP- Clay Carroll (1-1) LP- Mudcat Grant (0-1) SV- Don Gullett

HR- Johnny Bench (6); Sal Bando (2), Gene Tenace (3), Reggie Jackson (3)

The Reds broke a 6-6 tie by scoring two runs in the top of the eleventh inning off Oakland’s Mudcat Grant. Pete Rose and Johnny Bench each drove in a run in the eleventh, with reliever, Clay Carroll the pitcher of record. Don Gullett earned the save by getting the final three outs in extra innings. Athletics’ starter, Chuck Dobson staked Cincinnati to a 4-0 lead in the first, but the scrappy Athletics battled back, getting two runs in the third and three more in the sixth on back-to-back home runs from Jackson and Tenace. Oakland battles hard, but they just can’t put teams away. They are mired in the cellar and have lost four straight games.

Los Angeles 0 New York 2

WP- Mel Stottlemyre (1-2) LP- Claude Osteen (0-1)

A gem of a performance by Mel Stottlemyre, who spun a 2-0l, four-hit shutout over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Yankees #2 moundsman earned his first win of the year.

Minnesota 4 Baltimore 6

WP- Dick Hall (2-0) LP- Tom Hall (0-2)

HR- Curt Motton (1)

Seldom used, Curt Motton made a dream come true, by hitting a game winning, walk off home run, in the bottom of the ninth, as the Orioles defeated the Twins, 6 to 4. The game was knotted at four, when Bobby Grich pinch hit for Mark Belanger in the last of the ninth and led off with a triple off Tom Hall. With the winning run 90 feet away, Minnesota brought in bullpen ace Stan Williams, to try and get out of it. Motton pinch hit for Dick Hall and rendered the switch meaningless with one swing of the bat by sending William’s first offering over the Memorial Stadium wall in left field.

Standings and Leaderboard courtesy of http://www.cardanddicebaseball.com

Game 14 recap:

By Cincinnati winning and Boston losing, the Reds have shaved a game off the Red Sox lead and are now two games back. Johnny Bench is on fire. He’s leading the league in batting average and runs batted in and is tied for the lead in home runs with Tony Conigliaro of Boston. The Yankees have won four in a row and are playing .500 ball, four games off the pace. Pittsburgh has benched slumping Willie Stargell and replaced him with Bob Robertson in left field. Stargell did pinch hit against Boston but was 0-1. He is currently batting .136 with 14 strikeouts. The Dodgers and Athletics need to get something going and soon. They have lost 3 and 4 games in a row, respectively.